254 HISTORY OF THE FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



Jaws furnished with a great number of small, incurved, pointed teeth. Six rows of 

 these in the upper jaw, and seven rows in the lower jaw ; the inner row in this jaw 

 are hardly formed ; each of the rows in this jaw, as I counted them in the mouth, con- 

 tained one hundred teeth from the tip to the angle of the jaw, or two hundred, as 

 counted from one angle to the opposite one ; or, in a word, fourteen hundred teeth in this 

 jaw. The teeth are conical, sharp, polished, with a sensible ridge upon each side, often 

 roughened, almost serrated ; the lower portion of the tooth striated ; the teeth at the an- 

 gles of the jaws, short and more compressed. The teeth in the centre of the jaw are 

 three lines high above the jaw, and their base or root about the same length within the 

 socket. Temporal orifices small ; just back of the angle of the jaws. 



The first dorsal fin is triangular; two feet ten mches long, four feet four inches 

 high anteriorly, three feet posteriorly ; distance between the first and second dorsal fins, 

 six feet. 



The second dorsal fin is ten inches long, sixteen high anteriorly, thirteen posteriorly. 



The pectorals are falciform ; one foot nine inches long, five and a half feet high ; dis- 

 tance between pectorals and ventrals, eight feet. 



Length of the ventrals, one foot eleven inches ; height, two feet nine inches ; length 

 of the claspers, three feet three inches ; width at their base, eight inches, from which 

 they gradually pass to a point ; they enclose a strong bony spine. 



The anal fin commences opposite the second dorsal; its length is eleven inches, 

 its height fourteen inches ; across the top, ten inches ; distance between the anus and 

 the anal fin, three and a half feet. 



Anterior to the caudal fin is a lunated depression ; above and beneath the posterior ex- 

 tremity of the fish, at the base of the tail, is a carina upon each side, one foot eight inch- 

 es long. The caudal lobes are unequal ; the upper lobe, six feet six inches in length, 

 measured over its curve, having at its extremity a small triangular lobe ; the lower lobe, 

 four feet two inches, measured in the same way ; width of the extremity of the lower 

 lobe, six inches ; width at the base, two feet two inches ; width of the extremity of the up- 

 per fluke or lobe, one inch ; width of the base, two feet three and a half inches ; from the 

 lunated depression to the middle of the fin, two feet eleven inches. 



Length, thirty-six feet. 



Remarks. The specimen above described, measured thirty feet and three inches. It 

 was harpooned in the harbor of Provincetown, in 1839, and being towed to Chelsea, 

 was there exhibited. I visited it with my friend, Jefferson "Wyman, M.D., who made a 

 figure, while I prepared the description which accompanied my "Report," which I 



